A short look at Clown and Zen

here’s a short piece about parallels between these disciplines written in October, 2005

About Clown and Zen.

It might seem a complete paradox to offer up for consideration that there are strong parallels between the world of clown and Zen. One first might have to be a little more specific by narrowing it down to the world of European or Contemporary Clown, one who engages in performance in complicity with the audience.
It might seem like a paradox to search for similarities as Zen Buddhism is such a serious endeavor and clowning, well isn’t that about joy and laughter. The first clue that leads beyond the paradox is the sheer good natured ness of many Zen practitioners. The second clue might be how serious many clowns can be when they are off stage. The true nature of the similarities however lies more in the practice than in the practitioners.

One might say in general is that the main similarity between clown and Zen is that if you are you are thinking, then you are not where you want to be. In metaphysical terms one might say that it is an activity led by heart and spirit rather than intellect. There are several ways to break this down:

Listening. Attention, concentration. One major parallel between clown and Zen is the practice of listening and hence focus and concentration. In the world of Zen meditation, the practice involves placing ones attention on breath, on listening to one’s breath, and whenever thoughts arise, letting those pass so that one can bring one’s attention back to listening to one’s breath. In clown, one’s attention is also placed on listening, in this case to one’s performative energy and to the audience’s response to it, listening to how the audience is reacting to one’s actions, or inactions. If there is more than one person on stage, one is also listening to what one’s partners on stage are doing, or not doing, and how the audience is reacting to that.

In the moment. In Zen, and Buddhism in general, there is a strong emphasis on being in the moment, in other words not thinking about the future or the past but to live what is happening in the moment. Clowning has a similar emphasis the focus is to play what is happening in the moment. Whether it be something being generated by the clown or by the audience, the focus and potential humor is what is happening for everyone, audience and clown (s).

Light-Enlightenment . On a more esoteric level one might consider the goals of the two practices. The Clown seeks to bring lightness into the hearts and spirits of their audience. This is most often interpreted as laughter, however poetry, charm, beauty are also a form of light that the clown seeks to share with their audience. In their most powerful moments, the clown brings light into the darker emotions such as anger and sadness. One goal in the practice of Zen is reaching enlightenment, which perhaps could be interpreted as being full of light? En-lighten, to bring in the light. Could one be so bold as to suggest that these are similar paths?

Of course there are many differences in the practices, perhaps the most obvious being that where the meditator will let what arises dissipate, the clown may well seize that as an opportunity for action.

a few words from Leris Colombiani

Nani and Leris Colombiani at Anjos Do Picadeiro Festival, 2002. Photo Celso Pereira

Extract from an interview with Leris at the Anjos do Picadeiro festival in Rio de Janeiro in 2007.

Leris: Clown seeing everything like a child, is a parody of life.

Moshe:  What do you think about Tortell’s words, that Clown is a provoker of sentiments, his  language is that of feelings?

Leris: Eco , Si.  To offer human feelings, human generosity….Clown it is not only the show, the performance.  The clown has to give to the audience, I don’t know why.  If the performer doesn’t give something from inside, Ok the show is swell, but after a few days, nobody remembers; if there is no soul, no heart.

Conversation with Roshi Bernie Glassman about Clown and Zen

Roshi Bernie Glassman (zen master) is internationally recognized as one of the pioneers and guiding spirits of socially engaged Buddhism. He has based his life’s work on a commitment to service, born from his practice and mastery of the 2500-year-old tradition of Buddhist compassion and wisdom.

Moshe:  That’s good.  So do you think the world needs more clown?
Bernie:   I would say: Needs more  honoring of the clown part of ourselves.  Everybody has some clown in them and to make it so that it empowers people to let their clown part speak is good.
Moshe:  To share their humor?
Bernie:  Yea, and it is not just humor, to share the clown doesn’t make mistakes, that’ s part of clowning.  I mean the clown can operate in a full sphere; and many things that we would call clowning, people would get embarrassed about.
Moshe:   So did you say that the clown does not make mistakes?
Bernie:  No, because if the clown trips somewhere, well that’s not a mistake, they  just tripped somewhere.  But most people, if they trip somewhere  where they are in the spotlight, they feel embarrassed like they made a mistake, whereas the clown- they tripped!  Or when the clown is making big proclamations, everybody takes it, Oh they are making big proclamations. But if you are not a clown, if you are not empowering that aspect of you, then you’re making big proclamations, then people will ohh….dismissive gestures…
Moshe:  Serious, or they’re self importance
Bernie:  They…yes …they don’t…. we don’t let…. like I always say, if you put a nose on Bush, then he says whatever he says and we could take it, OK that is what Bush is saying, because he’s made it legal by the nose for people to accept or not accept.  Without the nose you get really pissed off and you are ready to kill him because, ah…. yea put a nose on the prophet and it’s not quite the same.  You still hear it and still sinks in and it still means something; and you can take it or not take it but it’s not the same place at all.  It’s the prophet saying…who does he think he is; or vice versa the prophet saying so I got to do whatever he says.  For me that makes it very human to be able to see everything as it is and I take it or I don’t take it and if it seems funny to me I can laugh.  If it seems absurd I can laugh if I want or whatever…….

Moshe:  So the other question: What caused you to seek out a clown teacher and to bring clowning into your world
Bernie:  Well, it’s been part of my world in some kind of natural way for a long time, but when I was sort of phasing out of being in charge of different kinds of organizations and Zen centers and things of that nature and installed a lot of people into running these things; one of the things that kept grabbing me is how people felt, how they were taking themselves too seriously.  So I was really looking more at the trickster role, coyote role than the clown role.  When I thought of clowning, that was more to getting some technical skills to be able to do the other work in a better way.  But I really felt it very important that one phase of our work has to be to make sure that people don’t take themselves too seriously or see the gates or the armor that they are building in doing their job and how to make it more inclusive.  I thought that a fun way of doing it or a good way of doing it is to sort of visit them in the role of the clown or the jester and poke fun at ways that I felt they were blocking the world from entering their spheres.

About Borders
You know it is interesting that Clowns Without Borders, that very term ‘without borders’ that is the kind of word that I use-I talk about no inside no outside, that everybody draws a circle and that’s their border.  Everything that they don’t see as part of them is outside that circle.  So, when you say without borders, that means the circle is infinite, everything is inside.  Yet it’s very hard for us to be open to all sides. Things push our buttons and then we really build a border, and point to the enemy.  I think that it is an important role trying to really get rid of those borders.  That doesn’t mean that you don’t do a lot of work with pieces within you that you think are not so healthy; just like in your own human body.  I mean cancers they’re part of you, you’ve got to work with them but just to call them the enemy is not good enough.
About Clowns and Fools
Moshe:  Do you think that there is any difference between clown and fool and jester?
Bernie:   Well the way people use the words, probably.  Even between ‘jester’ and ‘nar’, I think there’s a different feeling.  I think the European sense of ‘nar’ is deeper than the English sense of ’jester’.
Moshe:  Define ‘nar’.
Bernie:  Well there was the court jester, but it was really clear that that was the role of pointing out that….what word am I looking for…the arrogances…or the….
Moshe: … power problems….
Bernie:  Yea all of that stuff.  Every system needs that role and creates it in some way.  The ‘nar’ was created in medieval Europe to do that role in the kingdoms.  It is like ‘carnival’ for the catholic world.  It is so straight, you need release, so it something you can allow to point out the various armors or borders or whatever…if you don’t do the release, release isn’t enough.  I mean it’s got to be worked on more; because systems will create a release so they can last longer, so they won’t have as many revolutions and all.  So even with the ‘nar’, if you went too far they could get killed even though they were supposed to be protected.  Whereas a jester, I am not sure what English means by the jester.  It is a little bit more like a fool, huh?
Moshe:  Yes
Bernie:  It had that role but we sort of forget that a little.  Some people think that the role was more to bring humor, to make everybody laugh there; not necessarily to help change the system or keep the system honest whereas with the coyote, definitely, that is part of their job, to make sure that the priests, the leaders, that they walk their talk.  That was definitely part of their job.  It was part of the jester’s job but we’ve lost sight of it I Think in the way people think of the word.
Moshe: Would you find any parallel in modern day’s society?  Is there something going on in the entertainment world that you can point to that has a similar role?
Bernie:    yea, Saturday Night Live, Mort Saul, Trousdale…we allow that world, it is not so huge and we don’t have a government role or a corporate role but it would be good to have that.

Never works out like you expect

San Francisco. An afternote about the plastic bag kyogen.

The cycle plays have come and gone. The ‘kyogen plastique’ that i created for them was a joy ride, however certain elements  didn’t go quite as planned. Distribution of 180 extra large plastic bags to the entire audience turned out to be a challenge. Especially when you have never tried anything of the kind before. my theory involved  my coming off the stage and climbing the ailse alongside the audience as i threw out clusters of 12 bags.  the audience would pull bags off the clusters and distribute them until most everyone had them. Then I would generate a massive juggle where everyone would throw their plastic bags at the same time.

Well the clusters turned out to irresistible   playthings and the giant flowers  got tossed around a lot to the rows above and behind until almost all the bags were in the top tier section. there was complete mayhem up there, and an audience member told me later that it was ’sheer delight’ up there. however after an attempt to command the audience,  i had to let go of the massive juggle concept right there and then…

My attempts to manage the situation from the stage yielded a reverse flow of bags towards the stage until i was at the foot of a gigantic mound of bags.  I found myself quite busy stuffing bags into an extra large bag that i had made by melting bags together (very carefully) with an iron….

Somehow the whole thing was funny, and of course that is what counts. The bags are all sitting outside my door….

Speaking of Sacred Mischief. The Rebel Army @g8

Walked out to the market this morning, here in Amsterdam, and a big color photo on the frontpage of the NRC Handelsblad,

surprised me, then filled me with a big smile.

Talk about sacred mischief. Here is what i am guessing is the rebel clown army in action at the G8 protests. You can have all the security you want, but heck got to love it, the headline says ” Who is stealing the show” which i imagine is referring to the level of protest going on right now at the talks….
Viva!

a bit of mischief. los angeles may 19-20

(photos by peter cunningham)

Even though one might not get a clue from previous posts, this blog is called Sacred Mischief for a reason.

Wondering just what is Sacred Mischief?
One might consider it an act (or action) of sacred clowning.
Just what is sacred clowning?
I like Egyoku’s observation about the Hoxua when she saw a video of these sacred clowns of the Kraho of the Amazon basin:” they’re ‘just human’…but ‘JUST human’…. Hence one might conjecture sacred mischief to be humor that reaches our very essence. Well that is a lofty goal. Perhaps we just shouldn’t give it such deep consideration.

Hence straight to the matter at hand, the 40th anniversary of the Zen Center of Los Angeles, ZCLA. In the spirit of Sacred Mischief. I am invited by the abott Egyoku to Clown ZCLA’s Anniversary Celebration. She says “bring Yoowho”- in other words: come and ‘clown’ the event , bring levity into the environment.

I have been teaching workshopa at ZCLA for a number of years now. the last two years have seen different incarnations of a clowning institute there, currently called i.smacc, the institute of sacred mischief and contemplative clowning. Hence the invitation for
the 40th anniversary of the Zen Center of Los Angeles, and the White Plum Assanga (Maesumi Roshi’s lineage) Teacher’s meeting rolled into one. Lots of Zen Masters and teachers visiting Los Angeles for three days. Some rituals, ceremonies, bell ringings and robes swirling. Lot’s of laughter and earnest conversations.
There is also a contingent of the Order of Disorder, OD, present. What is OD? hard to say in a few words. There is an entire web page: orderofdisorder.com
Here is a photo of FoundOD and ElderOD touching noses, an OD ritual.

To get an better idea of an OD action, you might take a look at a little photo-montage of the OD action at Buddha’s birthday celebration this past April.

So once more, back to the subject at hand:

As the elder of the Order of Disorder, OD, I have convoqued an OD action for the second morning, Saturday, of the 40th to do . Egyoku and I have agreed that the inteverntion should be at the end of the panel discussion, which is about ‘Zen in America.’
Taking on the ‘fool’s’ hat to contemplate OD possibilties: an image of multiple laptops bubbles right up. Every Zen master I know carries one around it seems.
At 9 am I put out a call for OD participants. My request: 7 people and 7 laptops.
At 10:30 , we are 13 with 8 laptops and 1 yellow cardboard folder.
I supply the rest with a variety of bells-Tibetan, Swiss, Austrian.
In a 20 minute brainstorming creation, we create a lttle ritual around puntuated bell ringing and various images of laptops stuck together.

We process in hiding behind the laptops shaped like an arrow pointing backwards. The bells stop, we stop. We peer over the laptops. The bells ring, the laptops become a circle. Pause…Bells ring laptops are slowly moved through space into an absurdist shape. Bells ring, laptops recreate the arrow, pointing the other way, we process out in the opposite direction. Short sweet and hopefully to some point.

There are other smaller actions until the Sunday morning brunch.

Accompanying people to the evening awards ceremony with different sized umbrellas.

Early in the ceremony, when Roshi Bernie gets called up for an award, I accompany him by holding a paper cocktail umbrella over his head. He immediately goes into a clown walk and plays the moment.

At the tribute to ZCLA on Sunday morning, I attempt a short speech. I am led ontstage by a large orange sunflower. When I can’t get a word out of my mouth, the flower takes over and makes the speech, then drags me off stage, all at lightening speed.

a circus outing. circ cric

St Esteve de Palautordera, some 50 kilmeters north of Barcelona.

The capital of circus in Cataluna?? It is the town where Tortell Poltrona, founder of Clowns Without Borders, great clown and director of Circ Cric lives at the foot of the mountain and national park Montseny. A small town where one can still buy fresh mediteranean fish

Every spring, the circus hosts field trips, some 600 children three days a week come in buses for the day (10-3pm) to experience the circus and enjoy the natural surroundings. Each visiting classroom are greeted where the buses let them off by several of the 20 plus artists and animators. They are given an animal name for the group and paly at learning a few characteristics of the animal. For example the frog group hops and croak.

The kids seem to have good fun with it, and then follow the red clown shoe footprints stenciled on the pavement that lead them to the circus.

The road leads down into a little forest, across a creek and up to the circus.

A good number of the children come from urban environments and have had very little time, if any, in natural environments. I can hear from the circus excitement and squeels of delight as they travel the path.

The pathway leads up to a giant meadow where Tortell and his wife Montse have established the circus’s permanent home, right at the foot of the mountain.
There are two big tops mounted, and three other tents.  I watch the kids turn the corner and get their first glimpse of the circus.  One sweet little boy, upon seeing the tents exclaims, oh this is where the clown (pallasou) lives.  Other kids in his group excitedly talk about the clown. Tortell is famous in Cataluna, and I guess that the kids all know that they are coming to see Tortell.

Everything is extremely well organized, there are little tents set up with little animal signs which act as gathering places for the groups.

The program of the day starts with  big circle warm-ups with Claret Clown, who acts as ringmaster for the entire day.

Claret leads a spirited game of Simon Says, only the  game is called “pallasou ” instead of Simon.  Claret continually fools a good portion of the kids and laughter abounds.

The program of the day includes a puppet show about circus, then Claret’s big book show about the history of circus,

followed by a trapeze show under the second big top, which is set up without the walls or seating, the kids sitting on the ground looking up amazed at the performance. Then there is lunch, which they bring, and the there is a little cafe set up where the teachers can go take a break and have a coffee.  Finally the circus show with Tortell under the big top fully set up with lights, sound, seating.  

Quite a full day for all.